games@list.co.uk
XBOX
BRUCE LEE: QUEST OF THE DRAGON (Vivendi) £39.99
00
There have been great fighting games around for nearly 20 years. and with a cracking name such as Bruce Lee to play with yOu w0uld think that Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon would be a dead cert. And yes. to some extent it is. Bruce himself looks great. beautifully modelled. and his 100- plus moves are set out in a simple and effective control system. The ability to fight multiple enemies in true SD is also well implemented. something rarely done. But the enemies in Question are dull and fight like Graham Norton. while the non- Bruce graphics are shoddy and feel woefully unfinished. Indeed. the fact that enemies can disappear — and that's
PC MEDIEVAL TOTAL WAR
(Activision) £29.99 0...
Shogun Total War came very close to inventing a new genre of strategy game. The vast number of controllable units that swept across 30 landscapes, combined
with Risk-like maps and
management, made for a rather unique experience. Well, it is unique no more as its follow-up, Medieval Total War, has arrived. The map elements remain, as do
the massive battles, each with their own tweaks and upgrades. Now your kings and generals develop as your empire expands, an empire chosen from the 12 factions available over a number of eras,
‘disappear' as in blink out of existence mid- fight — is like receiving a kick in the nuts from the great man himself. And where is the 'verSLis' mode. a must for a beat-em-ups? All these faults leave a game that promises much and delivers virtually nothing.
XBOX
TUROK EVOLUTION (Acclaim) £39.99 .0.
Turok Evo/ution always had a hard job trying to impress the post-Halo Xbox generation. As console first person shooters go. Halo is by far and away the best. mixing explosive action. impressive environments and lovany nasty enemies to great effect. Turok Evolution has all these things yet feels lightweight in comparison. Both the jungle and futuristic surroundings are detailed and lush. the
making for a much more involved strategy-based challenge. Thankfully, you choose how much involvement you have in this, allowing blood-hungry commanders to leap from battle to battle or thoughtful strategists to assign the groundwork to their underlings. The game balance is up to you.
But most will want to get dirty in the field, which is where most of the improvements on the first game lie. There are now over 100 unit types to develop and employ, a good variety of castles and buildings to defend or attack and, with computer power increasing apace, the number of units on a battlefield at one time is now frightening. Controlling them all can be a task but it is well worth the effort. The ‘wow!’ factor is huge.
But this comes at a price. Older PCs, ie those more than a week old, will probably struggle later on as armies grow, and confusion soon becomes your biggest enemy as weighing the odds in real time hurts the brain. Adding the ability to slow things down, peruse the battlefield and carefully deploy your troops, though not so authentic, would have made for a more engaging game.
Some may moan that this is nothing but Shogun Total War on steroids, but for those who missed out first time, or truly love their strategy games, Medieval Total War is glorious. (lain Davidson)
aggressive dinosaurs are suitably scary and the story rattles along fine.
New avenues Such as flying combat work OK. but at its heart. Turok just lacks that special something. Rough textures sometimes stand out. the levels are often erratically paced and the only real drive is to see. and kill. the next big dine-fiend. Still. there is a lot of play in it and fans of the Turok series will find much here to enjoy.
P82
STUNTMAN (Reflections) £39.99 .0.
Oh. how unappreciated is the movie Stuntman? With only a Christmas holiday outing on The World '3 Greatest Stunts and the corseted acting of Burt Reynolds and Lee Majors heralding their work. they are the forgotten artisans of cinema. Well. now yOu can elevate these geniuses to superstardom from the inside. taking on the most dangerous stunts ever devised and creating celluloid history. Or yOu w0uld if the long road to that one. mind-blowing stunt wasn't so long and dull.
The number of units is frightening
Stuntman fails not on graphics. which are impressive. or control. which is simple and clean. but on difficulty and repetition. Get a stunt slightly wrong and back to the beginning of the stunt YOU go. And again. And again. Mind you. though this takes a lot of the fun out of an otherwise inventive game. it might explain why Hollywood films are so expensive.
(lain Davidson)
ALSO RELEASED Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox EA £39.99) Sucking the licence dry?
Resident Evil (GameCL/be Capcom £39.99) Return of the liVIng dead.
Crazy Taxi 3 (Xb0x Infogrames $39.99) And no hidden bOundary charge.
Tekken 4 (PS2 Sony £39.99) Kick and punch for a fourth time. Madden NFL 2003 (Xbox EA £39.99) lt’s come a long way since the Megadrive.
Internet
internetOlist.co.uk
WEIRD CULT
www.rael.org
Apparently. scientists from another planet created life on earth thanks to dear old DNA. Thirty years ago. a French journalist called Rael was contacted by a ‘visitor' who informed him that these boffins would soon be dropping in to
tell us how we c0uld all
find eternal happiness. Or something. Find Out the whole mad ‘story'.
POSH TARA
www.tarapt.com
Fresh from her jungle adventures. Tara Palmer-Tomkinson is here to help yOu through life's little conundrums (such as: is conundra the plural of conundrum?) and dish out SOLind advice to perk you up. The poetic ode to her Sur'wvor buddies is a thing of genuine beauty: 'Christine's the backbone of us
all YOu've got to stay or the car will stall“ and the like. Plus. you can get your hands on her undenrvear too. if that's y0ur idea of fun.
ROOM SHARING www.roommate service.com
WSmemn
.3 i; .2 t. t; e i. a}; .j
WOuId you seek a roommate over the internet? Thousands clearly would. and
‘9 Seth.i (\‘t
indeed do. You c0uld even fix yourself up with accommodation in LA or Vegas. should yOu really need to. Strictly no Al-anda.
TOP CHAIRS
www.seatingvfm.com
If you were enticed by last issue's delightful cover. how about finding out all you can about the humble chair. for both home and the office? Plus. you can discover if you comply with the following: is your data safe? Are you fireproof? Well. is it? And are you?
CAT NAMES www.petrix.com/ catnames
Another of life's big dilemmas: what on earth should yOu call yOLir cat? Here's an A—Z of such titles. from Abdul to Znoober. And some yOu might actually consider.
FAMOUS FANCIES www.celebmatch .com
w _ m
A stalker's delight. this one. Here's your chance to find out which celebrity yOu were born to be with. It's all done by birthdays and star signs. so it's a bit more reliable than just being asked ‘on a scale of one to five. how much do you enjoy weaving wicker baskets?‘ But only just.
ilvlatt Ramagge
Brian Donaldson)
3004‘ THE LIST 109